1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clock-setting apparatus and method, and more particularly to a clock-setting apparatus and method which can set a current time by recognizing clock-displaying characters as numerals included in a television broadcasting signal.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
An electric appliance having a reservation function such as a television, a video cassette recorder, etc., automatically turns on/off the power supply thereto or performs the reserved recording of a television program at a reserved time. In order to control the operation of the appliance exactly according to the reserved time, a timer built in such appliance should be set precisely by the current time.
Conventionally, clock-setting of an appliance is performed by utilizing the `on-screen` display function of a television. That is, if a user selects the clock-setting key of a remote controller, a clock-setting menu is displayed on the screen. Thereafter, he can enter a clock-modulating key of the remote controller, seeing another clock, in order to correct the current hour, minute, and second displayed on the screen, thereby setting the timer. Accordingly, it is necessary to secure another clock and to correct the current time by remote control key one by one, seeing the clock in this method. Therefore, it is inconvenient to use and errors may occur in setting the timer.
Meanwhile, in Korean Patent Application No. 90-8042, discloses an apparatus for automatically setting a timer with the unit of second by utilizing a time signal sound transmitted from a broadcasting station. The above apparatus detects a time signal sound transmitted from a broadcasting station and at the moment when the time signal sound is detected, the apparatus compares the value counted by a counter with the unit of second with a reference value (that is, 30 seconds). At this time, if the counted value is larger than the reference value, a counted value of a counter with the unit of minute is increased by 1 and a counted value of a counter with the unit of second is reset. And, if not, only the counted value of the counter with the unit of second is reset.
However, the apparatus for automatically setting a timer with the unit of second utilizes, not clock-displaying character information, but a time signal sound from a broadcasting station, and thus its subject matter is different from that of the present apparatus. Moreover, according to the above apparatus, a clock with the unit of second can be set automatically but a clock with the unit of hour cannot be set.